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I think that the worse thing that you can do with new officials is to load them down with too much information. I think that you should start out with the basics only. Court coverage, signals, where the ball goes OOB on violations and fouls, even HOW to blow a whistle properly. The newbies have to be taught how to recognize the basic violations- OOB's, the various time-count violations, travelling, illegal dribbles, kicked balls, etc. In a class room setting, just go over examples of all of the violations and what they have to do when they recognize them. The "shadow" training that you talk about is probably the best way to work with them and get them ready. As for rules, the last thing in the world that they need is to get involved in one of the esoteric, never-happen rules discussions that we have on this forum. They need to know the basics first, and Rule 4 is probably the best one for them to concentrate on at the start. They have to learn how to walk before they can run, iow. When they're just starting out, if they just call the basic violations and obvious fouls, they shouldn't get themselves in too much trouble anyway- especially if your assignor gives them a good, experienced partner to work with.
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